While previewing the new digitally-augmented presentation of The Wizard of Oz at Sphere in Las Vegas, Sphere Entertainment Co. CEO James Dolan told press that the project had gone way over its original budget. “We went way over the budget. What we were originally thinking, we ended up almost two times what we were originally thinking,” Dolan said. “We’re getting up pretty close to that $100 million mark — it was worth it.” And he may have been right, as it’s been revealed that it could be a billion-dollar revenue generator for Sphere.
Lucas Shaw at Bloomberg reports that with fans paying approximately $200 a ticket, The Wizard of Oz is currently generating sales of approximately $2 million a day, meaning that it could earn more than $1 billion during its run — which could stretch on indefinitely, while also being shown at additional Sphere locations as well.
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Dolan told analysts that “Ultimately, we’ll run The Wizard of Oz forever… It’s hard for me to imagine a better product.” That said, Dolan has also approached Warner Bros. and Disney about potentially giving Harry Potter and Star Wars the Sphere treatment.
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This interest in expanding the Sphere movie catalog makes sense, as while Sphere has quickly become a premiere location for concerts, Shaw notes that the company actually makes more money from showing movies than it does from live performances, as the bands keep almost all of the money from ticket sales. While Sphere will earn about $200 million from concerts in 2025, the amount it will earn from movies like The Wizard of Oz as well as Darren Aronofsky’s long-running Postcard from Earth is closer to $400 million.
Sphere will still continue to host concerts, though — while Taylor Swift won’t be doing a residency anytime soon, Backstreet Boys will resume their residency of the globe-shaped venue beginning December 2025. Here’s how to get tickets.
